Nathan Smith Jones's Blog

Only 10% of all Kirkus Reviews get an official recommendation, and only the top-reviewed 5% make it into the Kirkus Reviews magazine, AND WE GOT IN!

It's in the April 15 edition.

Fun times!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drago...

MARC HAS ANCIENT DRAGON DNA!!

Hey, everyone!

It's an exciting time. I'm proud to promote a book for reasons beyond "I wrote something and would like it to sell."

The subtle anti-teen-alcohol/drug-use message is an important one in our age of rampant opioid addiction.

The Vibe is a great (dare I say important!) spiritual metaphor!!

...and I'm proud that it's wrapped in a pulse-pounding, solid story that everyone ages 12 to 112 can enjoy!

Hey! I went ahead and created an informal, "unpolished" reading of a portion of "DRAGONKYN" read by the author---me!

I hope you enjoy it!

https://soundcloud.com/nathan-smith-j...

Please share with the website

http://dragonkyn.com

Had a GREAT time speaking with the students at Utah Virtual Academy on Friday! We talked stories, story-telling, writing, dragons, and of course, DRAGONKYN!

They seemed interested in the story, and especially how the "rogue" dragonkyn related to it. I even did a few of my voices. (Some of you may not know that I've been a voice-over actor for almost 21 years).

Such a great time! Thought I'd share.

http://dragonkyn.com

There once was a man named T who was very proud of all of his many travels. Once, he spoke to a man named S who was only a poor social worker. T knew that S had not traveled nearly as far nor as often as he had traveled. T felt very superior to S and proudly spoke of all the great places he had been. T had been to Asia. He had been to Micronesia and the Pacific Isles. He had gone on Safari to Africa, hiked the Urals in Russia, hacked through thick jungle in South America and traveled across the plains of Siberia.
S smiled. "I've traveled to far more places than you," he said. T laughed out loud at this.
"You? You're a social worker. You haven't been anywhere."
"Yes. I've been everywhere. I've been to the Spain of Hemmingway and Cervantes. I've traveled to Tolstoy's Russia, Faulkner and O'Connor's Southern United States; I've been to Steinbeck's California and Michener's Hawaii. I've been to Lewis's Narnia and Tolkien's Middle-earth, Sanderson's Luthadel and Mull's Fablehaven."
"Well, those aren't---" T started.
"But that's not all. I've also been everywhen."
"EveryWHEN?" said T with a smile, like he was humoring a child, but S continued.
"I've been to Dickens' and Austen's England, Ken Follet's medieval Europe, Crane's and Winik's Civil War and McCullough's Revolutionary War America. I've been everywhere AND everywhen."
After a pause, T gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, but, but, that's not---I mean, some of those aren't even real. They're just books."
S just laughed. It started quiet, just shaking, but then it became a chuckle and then a cackle. S laughed so hard that the longer it went on, the more T looked concerned, looking around. S walked away, still laughing, leaving T to wonder what he was missing.

...-recognized KIRKUS REVIEWS!

"Evocative prose lifts the narrative above the average coming of age fantasy."

...and:

"Jones grips the reader with great pacing and a winning mythos."

This is very exciting to be in the top 10% of all Kirkus Reviews. That being said, it's humbling when a different reviewer finds a typo or two, phrasing that took her out of the "spell" of the story.

It makes me want to work that much harder to make the next book even BETTER! Hopefully I'll have it done by next year.

I'll be back with another blog soon. Thanks, everyone!